Lynden Transport, a member of the company of families that is responsible for the Milky Way tankers seen on highways ferrying milk from dairies to processors such as Darigold, is buying land near one of its biggest partners.

Port of Pasco commissioners recently approved providing a sale agreement for more than 14 acres at the Reimann Industrial Center to Lynden, according to port documents. While details still need to be finalized, Lynden would pay nearly $2.2 million for the lot.

That would make Lynden’s new operations hub a nearby neighbor of Darigold’s Pasco plant that processes fresh milk into powdered milk products and butter. The $600 million plant is currently under construction with the capacity to process 8 million pounds of milk per day, supplied by 100 dairy farms in the region, the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business previously reported.

Darigold officials have said they expect the plant to be fully operating by mid-2025 and have roughly 200 employees.

"If approved, we plan to base employees at this Pasco facility to serve local customers," said Eric Badger, president of LTI, Inc. and Milky Way, in a statement. "We look forward to providing efficient, safe, and reliable service to customers in the region for many years to come."

Lynden has worked with Darigold, a Seattle-based dairy cooperative, for more than 100 years while also offering other transport and logistics services across the West.

Port officials told commissioners that Lynden has struggled to find the right piece of land for its Tri-Cities operations. It had previously considered land at the Reimann industrial park, which has about 160 acres that will be divided into six lots of varying sizes.

The port continues to build out infrastructure at Reimann as it recruits potential tenants. According to the most recent report to the commissioners, those prospective recruits include:

• A company that’s signed a letter of intent for 30 acres for a cold storage facility.
• A rail company that would first lease ground at the Big Pasco Industrial Park before using an additional 41 acres at Reimann.
• A food processor that has met with the port and  city of Pasco to discuss the process water reuse facility, which treats water collected from local fruit vegetable and dairy processors, and its potential to serve the processor’s operations.

“The port has had a lot of interest in the remaining 160 acres there,” said Stephen McFadden, director of economic development and marketing.